Sleep - A Critical Part of Success
Sleep – it’s one of those critical pieces to our well-being that often gets sacrificed if we’re feeling behind in classes, trying to make more time for social activities, or are caught up in a good book or TV series. Even though college can feel like a tough time for getting enough sleep, there is compelling data on what a difference it makes in our lives.
Dr. Matthew P. Walker, a neuroscience and psychology professor and director for the Center for Human Sleep Science at UC Berkley, has spent his career asking the question “Why do we sleep?” Walker’s research has identified sleep as an essential part of all our body’s major physiological systems and brain functions, including emotional reactivity, mood regulation, attention, creativity, decision-marking, and learning and memory.
“Sleep before learning prepares the brain, and specifically the hippocampus, for the initial encoding of new memories. Sleep after learning supports the subsequent offline consolidation of those memories, decreasing the likelihood of forgetting,” (Walker, 2021, p.698).
In fact, in one of their studies, Walker and his research team found that the sleep-deprived group scored 40% lower on a learning and testing activity than the group that got sleep. While their research looked at sleep just immediately before learning and testing, another recent study found academic performance correlates with greater consistency in sleep, sleep quality, and duration over time (the week before and the month before a test). Investing in your sleep, throughout the semester, is a key aspect to not just your academic success, but more importantly your holistic well-being.
So how do you start working toward improving your sleep?
- Steps to Leaps has learning modules you can complete on your own, including a newer one about Sleep. Find the module about Sleep and others about well-being here.
- The Wellness Center has a Sleep Handbook available as well as wellness coaches if you’d like accountability and support in changing your sleep habits.
- Check out Walker’s TED Series “Sleeping with Science” for 2-4 minute clips about facts and secrets around sleep.
- UPenn Chronobiology and Sleep Institute (CSI) has a blog with evidence-based info on learning and sleep plus some sleep tip resources (including the one below).
- Check out the related Student Sleep Guide here.
Sleep, whether not getting enough or getting too much, is consistently one of the top 5 concerns students listed as impacting their academic standing. It is also consistently shared as part of student’s success plans to get back into good standing.
So, how would you rate your sleep so far this semester? And what's one action you can take this week that would help you maintain or improve your sleep self-rating?
